Tangled Weeds: Fiduciary Status in a Criminal Fraud Not Determinative in Employment Litigation?
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Tangled Weeds: Fiduciary Status in a Criminal Fraud Not Determinative in Employment Litigation?
Surprisingly, evidently not. Briefly the facts in Plate v. Atlas Copco Canada Inc., 2019 ONCA 196: an Executive in the role of Vice President Global Strategic Customers was terminated for just cause grounded in a decades-long defrauding of the company and its benefits provider in conspiracy with the latter’s consultant, to the extent of over $20,000,000, over a million of which resulted to the Executive personally. His argument that he was a bystander incidentally…
Faith-based Conscientious Contracting: Pratfalls of Fixed Term Employment-Like Contractual Relations
Faith-based, as in “good faith”, that is.
Not that long ago the Supreme Court installed “good faith” as core to the fabric of contractual relations in Canada whether commercial or employment, whether ostensibly arms-length as “independent contractor” or employment per se. Implying a duty to act fairly in contract is not foreign to other jurisdictions— it is foundational to EU legal principals and long-since present in the Restatements of US law.
Here, not so much.…
Jagged Little Pill: What “You Oughta Know” Regarding Agency Fraud
Recently Canadian singer Alanis Morissette became the latest well-publicized victim of fraud at the hands of one she employed and trusted: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/amp/36316327. She joins a long list of celebrities who have suffered fraud at the hands of those employed to trust, amongst them the Beatles, Beyoncé, David Bowie, Billy Joel, Bob Dylan, Leonard Cohen, Elvis, the Rolling Stones.…
“Too Legit to Quit”: When a Board Executive Resigns, Sort Of
The mass resignation of the Executive Committee of the Board of the Ontario Medical Association is not ‘abandoning ship’: the individual members are remaining on the Board of Directors because “They have a wealth of experience and knowledge that would be a significant loss to us if they were to leave the Board. The Executive Committee is making this choice in the hope that this will help unify doctors and advance the interests of the…
‘Disturbance in the Force’: When Unions Look Inward
In what looked outwardly as a mercurial development, management of the union local that represents Toronto Transit Commission workers was itself subject to discipline and it didn’t involve the proverbial requisite remedial form that unions promulgate to employers. Incestuously, this was Big Brother telling a younger — and foreign — sibling to ‘leave the sandbox’ immediately: “TTC union heads fired in power battle with U.S. union.” The Globe and Mail, 3 February 2017. …
‘Up in Smoke’: Benefit Coverage for Medical Marijuana
Prime Minister Trudeau portended the legalization of ‘pot’ in Canada in his election campaign. Pending such development, a recent decision by a court-appointed Board of Inquiry has ‘planted the seed’ for coverage of medical marijuana prescriptions under employee benefit plans: Skinner v. Board of Trustees of the Canadian Elevator Industry Welfare Trust Fund (“Skinner“).…
Of Alice, Patton and Dr. Seuss: Latest on Implied Terms in Contract
“‘Then you should say what you mean,’ the March Hare went on. ‘I do,’ Alice hastily replied; ‘at least ‒ at least I mean what I say ‒ that’s the same thing, you know.’ ‘Not the same thing a bit!’ said the Mad Hatter.”
– Lewis Carroll, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland
There is no “madness” in saying what you mean; in the realm of contracts ‒ especially employment contracts ‒ the madness is in not doing…
Jagged Little Pill: What “You Oughta Know” Regarding Agency Fraud
Recently Canadian singer Alanis Morissette became the latest well-publicized victim of fraud at the hands of one she employed and trusted: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/amp/36316327. She joins a long list of celebrities who have suffered fraud at the hands of those employed to trust, amongst them the Beatles, Beyoncé, David Bowie, Billy Joel, Bob Dylan, Leonard Cohen, Elvis, the Rolling Stones.…
Domo Arigato: The Mechanizing of the Workforce
At this year’s Davos World Economic Forum, Google’s co-founder, Sergey Brin, professed surprise at the rapid onslaught of AI — artificial intelligence. “This revolution has been very profound and definitely surprised me even though I was right in there”, commented Mr. Brin, whose Alphabet unit leads the AI charge. He advised that these developments have enormous global repercussions on all aspects of commerce and law, and certainly on employment.[1] …